Erich-Heinrich Cloessner

Erich-Heinrich Cloessner (17 September 1888-28 March 1976) was a General der Infanterie of the German Wehrmacht who led the Second Panzer Army during World War II.

Biography
Erich-Heinrich Cloessner was born on 17 September 1888 in Giessen, Hesse, German Empire. He enlisted in the Imperial German Army in 1907 and became a decorated World War I veteran, and he remained in the Reichswehr after the war's end. Cloessner served in the Wehrmacht military of Nazi Germany during the 1930s, and he took part in the Anschluss with Austria and the annexation of the Sudetenland. Cloessner would later lead the German 25th Infantry Division during the Battle of France and Operation Barbarossa, and he later took command of the Second Panzer Army on the Eastern Front. From 11 April to 6 August 1943, he led the army as a part of Army Group Center, and his panzer army took part in the costly attacks on Pervyye Ponyri during the Battle of Kursk on 5 July 1943. From 15 October to 5 December, he led the IX Armeekorps, but he held no commands after late 1943. He died in Konstanz, Baden-Wurttemberg, West Germany in 1976.